126 ACCIPITRES. 



naturally violent motions of the birds, and also to any casual- 

 ties to which in the course of their daring lives they may be 

 exposed. Their muscles are as firm as pieces of cable, and 

 their tendons almost as rigid as dried catgut. Their very 

 feathers have a firmness and strength in them that alone 

 would tell the daring and enduring character of the birds. 

 Those winds which cleave the oak, and rend up the mountain- 

 pine by the roots, do not ruffle the plumage of the mountain 

 eagle, or drive her from her perch on the ledge of the rock. 

 Firmly rooted in the powerful clutch of her feet, and de- 

 fended by the plated mail of her stiff though elastic feathers, 

 she defies the topmost bent of the elements, and, from the 

 " munition of the rocks," looks down unconcerned upon the 

 tempest which is sweeping the world below her with terror 

 and devastation. The range of her eye is truly wonderful. 

 Floating hundreds of feet above the summits of our highest 

 mountains, and she always soars aloft even there, her 

 horizon commands a hundred dells and valleys ; and she spies 

 a grous or a mountain hare from a distance at which the 

 human eye could hardly discern an elephant. But as she 

 dwells in power she also dwells in peace. There is no tumult 

 or clamour in the eyrie of the eagle; she merely seeks food 

 for herself and her young, and when that has been obtained 

 she is at rest; and all under her dominion are safe, for even 

 the boldest and swiftest-winged hawks keep at a distance 

 from the retreat of the eagle, and when her shadow passes 

 over the valley, not a wing moves but her own. 



There are three British species of eagles, all differing in 

 their haunts and habits, but all agreeing in their general cha- 

 racters of these powerful birds. They are pretty widely scat- 

 tered, but they are nowhere numerous; and it is probable, 

 nay it is certain, that independently of the price which is set 

 on their heads, by those very considerate persons who would 

 rather have ten sickly sheep punched and tortured to death 



